Minnesota Vikings MVPs: Week 7 vs. Detroit Lions

Defensive MVP – Honorable Mentions

Let’s be honest, the Minnesota Vikings defense didn’t look good in this game. The purple and gold couldn’t stop Marvin Jones in the red zone, allowing him to score four touchdowns from Matthew Stafford in this game.

The biggest positive was that Detroit was playing catch-up for a lot of this game and losing Kerryon Johnson was a big blow for the Lions. They were efficient on the ground but weren’t able to use that strength in this game.

Here are some of the defensive standouts from this game who weren’t quite the MVP from Week 7 against the Lions:

• Danielle Hunter, defensive end – The pass rush didn’t get to Matt Stafford as much as Minnesota wanted, but Hunter still had one sack on the day with two hits on the quarterback. His consistent pressure kept Stafford uncomfortable and forced some bad throws.
• Harrison Smith, safety – It’s hard to praise anyone in the secondary for this game, but Smith still put together a solid game, at least in limiting yards after the catch and saving scores. He made seven stops on the day, all of them solo.
• Everson Griffen, defensive end – Yes, he had a couple of bad penalties in this game, but he really pushed the Lions left tackle around. Between him and Hunter, Stafford couldn’t get comfortable in the pocket and caused some bad throws. Like Hunter, he only had one sack on the day, but plenty of pressure on the quarterback.